THIS INVENTION relates to a mounting arrangement. In particular, the invention relates to a method of mounting floor slats of a reciprocating floor to drive beams thereof, and to a reciprocating floor which includes a mounting arrangement mounting floor slats thereof to a drive beam thereof.
Reciprocating floors are known and typically include two or three drive beams, with typically aluminium floor slats or planks or sections mounted to their associated drive beam to move in a reciprocating fashion with the drive beam. The Applicant is aware of reciprocating floors, also known as reciprocating floor conveyors, in which the floor slats are fastened to mounting elements welded to their associated drive beams. This process however has the disadvantage that the welding may cause bending of the drive beams, which then have to be straightened again, causing additional manufacturing expense. The Applicant is also aware of reciprocating floors in which the floor slats are bolted by means of four or more countersunk bolts per floor slat to their associated drive beams. The drilling and countersinking of the bolt holes in the floor slats take about 10 man hours for a typical vehicle mounted reciprocating floor and is thus a costly labour intensive part of the floor installation process.
The Applicant is furthermore aware of reciprocating floors in which the floor slats are clamped downwards onto their associated drive beams, employing bolts which are accessed from below and which pull downwards on a clamping member fitting inside the floor slat and pressing down on opposed longitudinally extending inwardly projecting bottom lips of the floor slats. This clamping arrangement provides no additional support to the floor slats in the area where the drive unit (typically a hydraulic drive unit) of the reciprocating floor is mounted below the floor slats, requiring that the aluminium floor slats be designed with a fairly high side wall of about 34 mm to strengthen them in the area where the drive unit is mounted. The floor slats are however typically aluminium extrusions, meaning that the high side wall with its associated cost and weight extends the entire length of the floor slat, whereas it is only required in the area where the drive unit is mounted. Some of the bolts of the clamping arrangement are also difficult to access from below making assembly difficult. With this clamping arrangement, the drive unit also does not receive much support from the floor slats, which are flexible and only clamped down over a length of about 200 mm, allowing the hydraulic cylinder of the drive unit to which the drive beam is mounted to bend or tilt under load, causing unnecessary stress in the cylinder mounting.